19 times when manufacturers secretly deceived buyers (20 photos)

In economics, there is a term “shrinkflation” - this is when a manufacturer reduces the volume, quantity or weight of a product, but leaves the price the same. And he does it so cleverly that only the most attentive buyers will notice the difference. Does this seem unfair to you? And so do other network users. They are not shy about writing publicly about such cases, and this collection lists the most striking examples of shrinkflation.





1.



Last year, someone on Reddit noticed that a pack labeled "Bigger pack, more to share" contained the same amount of nachos as a regular pack. “Share the air,” someone joked in the comments.

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In 2016, Pringles fans noticed that their favorite chips were getting smaller. In addition, some noticed that the packaging itself had become smaller, which made it more difficult for some to get to the chips. The company explained this by the fact that production was moved from the USA to Malaysia.

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In 2016, the Toblerone company announced that the legendary design of their chocolate bars would change: the distance between the “mountains” would become greater, which means there would be 10% less chocolate, but the price would remain the same. The public was unhappy, and two years later the company returned to the old design. Unfortunately, the prices for chocolate had to be raised.

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Pyrex was famous for producing fireproof glassware. However, a few years ago, dishes began to burst due to overheating. It turned out that the manufacturer switched to a cheaper ingredient, which makes the glass less likely to break when dropped, but vulnerable to thermal shock.

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Last year, a man named William Knight came across a "vintage" 1996 Mars bar in the bottom of an old box at home. The man compared it with a modern one and was surprised at how much larger the “vintage” bar turned out to be.

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It turns out that the length of toilet paper rolls has been shrinking for a long time. Once upon a time, the standard toilet paper roll size was 4.5 x 4.5 inches (approximately 11.5 cm). Most rolls are now half an inch (1.3 cm) shorter than they used to be.

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Double-stuffed Oreo cookies have lost noticeable weight in recent years—435 grams instead of 470—but the price remains the same.

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Many candy bars have shrunk in size over the years, but their price hasn't changed. For example, Twix is now 14% smaller than it was before. It turns out that in 2012 Mars, Inc. decreed that a single bar should have no more than 250 calories, and as a result many of the company's products were reduced in size.

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Some bags of Lay's contain fewer chips than others. A pack of regular Family Size potato chips weighs 283.5g, but different flavored chips of the same size weigh 269.3g, although the products are the same price. The difference is about 5-6 chips.

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Consumers began to notice that over time, many breakfast cereal manufacturers reduced the number of cereals in a pack, but continued to sell them for the same price. Many companies simply began making boxes narrower so that the difference would not be so noticeable at first glance.

eleven.



In the US, the standard pint of beer is 16 ounces (473 ml). However, some bars use "cheat pints" - 14 ounce (414 ml) glasses. Buyers do not notice the deception, since these glasses are practically indistinguishable from real ones.

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Some brenWhen producing their “fabric T-shirts,” they replace cotton with cheaper and much thinner synthetic fabric. Because of this, the T-shirts turn out almost transparent.

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In 2017, consumers began to notice that Tropicana juice packs decreased in size by almost 9 percent. Despite this, the price remained the same.

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A month ago, a Reddit user noticed that Hefty began selling garbage bags in packs of 80 bags instead of 90, but the price remained exactly the same.

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At the beginning of the year, a Reddit user noticed that the drink inflation was also affecting the Powerade drink. The volume of the drink decreased by 118 ml, but the price remained the same.

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In 2014, Coca-Cola's large bottles changed in size - 1.75 liters instead of two - but the price remained the same.

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Cadbury has announced it will reduce the number of calories in its bars sold in bulk packs by the end of 2021. According to the BBC, four bars in one package will now contain no more than 200 calories each. However, the company has no plans to reduce the price.

18.



A few years ago, New York-based yogurt company Chobani decided to shrink its yogurt packages from 6 ounces to 5.3 ounces. Despite this, the price remained the same. Buyers were, to put it mildly, unhappy. The company explained that it did this to make it easier for consumers to compare the nutritional value of the product with the company's other recently launched products, as well as with products from competitors that prefer 5.3-ounce packages.

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Last year, a bottle of Heinz salad dressing became 9 percent smaller, but the price of the product increased.